Mysuru: Srikrishna Gana Sabha has arranged Hindustani Music Concert on Sunday (June 16) by Child Prodigy Siddhartha Belmannu at 6 pm at Alwar Kalabhavan.

Accompanying artistes are Pt. Veerabadraiah Hiremath on harmonium and Pt. Bheemashankar Bidnoor on tabla. Concert is sponsored by Dr. C.G. Narasimhan family.

On Monday (June 17), the Sabha has arranged Veena Concert by Vid. R.K. Padmanabha at 6 pm at the same venue. He will be accompanied by Vid. P.S. Sridhar on mridanga and V.S. Ramesh on ghata. Concert is Sponsored by Samaja Seva Dhureene Madhuri Thathachari in memory of  her husband Prof. Thathachari.

PROFILES

Siddhartha Belmannu, a child prodigy, is a young talented musician hailing from Karkala in Udupi district.  Born on 2nd October 1996 into the music loving family of mother Usha and father Prasad Belmannu who recognised early on that he was endowed with a gifted voice, fluent in three octaves.

Discerning his musical talent, his parents, without further delay, enrolled him for initial training in Karnatak Classical Music. Later, he was exposed to Hindustani Classical Music and continued his studies under the tutelage of P.R. Manjunath, a well-known Hindustani musician.

Later he came under the tutelage of the legendary musician, Pandit Vinayak Torvi ji, Doyen of Gwalior and Kirana Gharana, where he is undergoing vigorous training in the Gurukul system from the past 8 years.

From the age of 19, Siddhartha has been performing all across the country on many prestigious platforms. He has also been touring with his Guru Pt. Vinayak Torvi in India as well in the US and other countries.

Siddhartha has also been performing Jugalbandi with various Hindustani and Karnatak vocalists and instrumentalists.

He has worked with The Grammy Winning composer Ricky Kej for many of his live concerts and projects on environmental awareness. He has performed Indian classical fusions with various artistes. Siddhartha also excels in light music such as Marathi Abhangs, Kannada Devarnama and Vachanas.

While Classical Hindustani Music is his core, Siddhartha also enjoys playback singing and has sung for many movies. His originality in music has been widely appreciated in the music industry. Academically, Siddhartha is currently pursuing his B.com as well.

Vid. R.K. Padmanabha: At the age of six, Padmanabha started accompanying at concerts till 1982. He was trained in singing and Veena playing by his father for almost two decades. The Mysore style of veena playing which Padmanabha follows was patronised by Wadiyar Kings.

The musical instrument and the rendition is a bit different from the Thanjavur, Andhra or Kerala styles. His father, R.S. Keshavamurthy, a renowned veena exponent, who was endowed with the title of Asthana Vidwan at Kingdom of Mysore, developed this instrument in 1924.

The 250-year-old precious Kanaka Rajatha Saraswathi Akanda Veena was passed on to him by his brothers in 1983 after his father’s death. The historical veena belonged to Veena Subbanna, the legendary musician and composer (1861-1939). It is said that Puttadasappa, the well-known veena maker of Mysore had done the entire carving work in 18th century. It was handed over by Veena Subbanna to his beloved disciple Keshavamurthy, Padmanabha’s father and Guru.